Went from ac-rapid-fires to Bosch 4s .Felt immediate difference. MUCH better throttle response. No lie. Now i'm going with tpis- ignition wires-low ohm resistance. Anyone care to comment, pro/con Thanks !

85 IROC-Z TPIS FASTPACK KIT,COOLANT BY-PASS, GUTTED CAT 160* thermostadt, manual fan swithc,3.42 posi,etc.

 

Most people will say they are a complete waste of money and that AC Delcos are just as good.
And actually, if those are platinum they don't produce as good of a spark as copper, but will last longer.

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2 Tickets to game= $250
Gas= $20
Sitting 20ft. from MJ= Priceless
'86 IROC T-TOPS, TINTED WINDOWS, BRAKE LIGHT BLACKOUTS
GM GOODWRENCH 350
EDELBROCK HEADERS Hooker CatBack
EDELBROCK 600CFM CARB.
KN AIRFILTER
ACCEL HEI DISTRIBUTOR
160* Stat, just switched to 180* b/c of winter coming and going to college in the mts.
3:73 Posi Rebuilt 700R4
B&M Megashifter, 5" Autometer Tach w/shift lite

[This message has been edited by Mark A Shields (edited December 09, 2001).]

 

Complete waste of money. If you felt a difference..it's because your old plugs sucked or your butt is lying to you

Plain old AC Delcos still can't be beat.

 

I've had them on both of my camaros and don't fella difference. I'm goin with delco platinums next time

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'86 IROC 5-speed
305 LG4
edelbrock performer rpm intake
edelbrock 600 cfm carb
msd pro billet hei distributer
'95 3.23 rearend
hotchkis rear suspension
PST front polygraphite suspension
"speed kills. buy a f@&d, live forever."

 

Check the message archives for "Bosch +4". You'll get lots of similar reports.

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Later,
Vader
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If you want to beat the World, it might reach up and pull you down...
Adobe Acrobat Reader

 

Regular Bosch Platinums work great and will last longer than an ordinary AC Delco. They hold their gap longer due to the superior materials.

 

I have had one bad expereince with Bosch platinums (not the +4 plugs, I'd never buy teeny-bopper trick stuff like that). It was in my 94 Formula which, admittedly, is notorious for ignition problems.

I had a set of the Bosch plugs go bad internally. I got a high RPM miss that drove me nuts for a year. I figured that since the Bosch plugs were only 8000 miles old they couldn't POSSIBLY be the problem. $1500 worth of useless parts later, in total desperation, I threw in a set of $.99 Autolites. Problem 100% solved. Not jsut BETTER. SOLVED!

The Bosch plugs did not look bad in any way- coloration was good, gap was right where I had set it a year before. NOTHING to indicate they were bad. But clearly they were.

I have had similar problems with the AC Delco double platinums, but for a totally different reason. With the AC plugs the platinum "puck" on the side electrode falls off WAY WAY before 100K miles, opens the gap up to .075" and then you start frying coils, wires, distributors, etc.

I've learned by lesson with Platinum plugs. I'll change by old copper core plugs more often and never complain again.

 

I hope you mean 1k miles.

 

i got ac rapidfires in my ride and i love 'em. as far as the +4's, almost every review is negative. BMW actually specifies a "do not use" rule about them. when bosch comes out with a plug that launches four separate sparks i will buy it, but 1 spark to four contacts is still one spark. GO DELCO!

 

Platinium plugs as a rule run hotter, so they
tend to be self cleaning in normal street driving. So they "warmup" faster and last longer. (throttle response). On the other hand they generally run too hot for any kind of racing and are not recommended for this purpose. They were designed to help an emission equiped car "keep it's tune" longer.
The four negative electrodes are basicly eyewash on a car engine. They were borrowed
from aircraft engines. Used as a saftey factor(if one electrode burned away (lean mixture, detonation, preignition), there are 3 extra ones to get you back on the ground
where the problem could be fixed.
When ever you pop in a fresh set of properly
selected plugs, you are going to notice a
nice boost in throttle response, just cause they are new and clean. No surprise there!
It's cheaper to just use inexpensive normal type plugs of the correct heat range and change them more often. Especially if you do it yourself.

 

Delco rapidfires

I'll never use anything else. Go with a plug proven at the strip, not something that looks cool in a mag.

 

what about the accel u-groove. or splitfires, any thoughts on those.

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neko
'87 trans am
car in the making
angelfire.com/fl2/neko

 

The Accel "U Groove" and NGK "V groove"
work well 'cause they are well made and available in many different heat ranges and tip types (projected, non projected, resistor
etc). Weither the groove in the ground electrode actually has any definate benefit is minimal at best. The split fires are a bad joke and are way over priced. If these products had any real benifet over a normal
quality plug, that justified the price (mileage, power, emissions or durability) U can be sure the OEM's would be using or highly recomending them. The NGK and Accel plugs have worked well for me in the past, but so have AC Delco and Champion. I generally buy Champion.

 

I had the Accel U-Groove, and the tips that connect to the plug wire kept coming loose on me, where I would have to retighten them by hand.

------------------
2 Tickets to game= $250
Gas= $20
Sitting 20ft. from MJ= Priceless
'86 IROC T-TOPS, TINTED WINDOWS, BRAKE LIGHT BLACKOUTS
GM GOODWRENCH 350
EDELBROCK HEADERS Hooker CatBack
EDELBROCK 600CFM CARB.
KN AIRFILTER
ACCEL HEI DISTRIBUTOR
160* Stat, just switched to 180* b/c of winter coming and going to college in the mts.
3:73 Posi Rebuilt 700R4
B&M Megashifter, 5" Autometer Tach w/shift lite

 

I have the accel u-grooves and have the same problem with the tips coming loose. You only need one good spark. everything else is like buying an exhaust tip for a focus......useless and annoying.

 

tried them a few times in various vehicles and didn't like them at all. for gm's i preferr ac delco normal, ac delco rapidfire, or ac delco platinum. only straying would be LT1's that i've set up on the bottle. i use autolite's in them.

 

Roger that.

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1987 GTA L98 MD8
355, TFS Heads, LT4 Hot Cam
My GTA

The Minnesota F-body Club

 

Same thing here, when I tried running 'em. I knew as soon as the car started misfiring to check those damn u-groove plug terminals.

I use Splitfires; they're only $4 each. They seem to keep my exhaust smelling cleaner "longer" than normal plugs... probably because of the extra firing area of the wider ground electrode. So, I'll keep using 'em.
Are AC Rapidfires really "proven" at the strip?

(By the way- if you pay $5.95/Splitfire, you're being ripped off by your local store! Splitfire dropped their retail price to $3.95 a few years ago. If your local store's still selling them for $5.95, they're making a HUGE profit off of you- Summit Racing sells them for the correct price.)


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l)